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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29489079">unfurled by love ( be enough )</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley'>smartbuckley</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Buddie Codas [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode Spoilers, Evan "Buck" Buckley Has Bad Parents, First Kiss, M/M, POV Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), episode coda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:54:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,300</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29489079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Eventually, Chimney has to leave, the awkwardness too much for him so Eddie says goodbye and turns towards Buck’s parents with a small sigh, looking at them carefully. They’re eyeing him - sizing him up, and normally it would bother him but right now, he really needs to tell them just what they’re missing when it comes to their son, even if they don’t quite understand what it means, coming from Eddie.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“So --” Buck’s mom begins and Eddie knows if his own mother was around, she would scold him for interrupting, but ---</i>
</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>Coda fanfiction to <i>Buck Begins</i>, episode five, season four.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Buddie Codas [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527032</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>590</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>unfurled by love ( be enough )</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don't believe there are any warnings or triggers for this story, but it does take place after 4.05, so there are spoilers. Make sure you're caught up on the show if you read.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They arrive at the fire station while Eddie is waiting for Bobby to drive Buck back from the hospital. He’s not doing anything other than sitting on the couch, looking over the railing and through the railing every few minutes when he thinks he hears a sound that could be Buck’s arrival. It’s why he chose to sit on the couch in the first place, because it was the perfect spot to be able to see Buck when he pulled up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, that also meant Eddie saw when two older people slowly walked up through the opening of the fire station, looking around hesitantly, like they weren’t sure what they were expecting. Eddie watched them carefully, arching one of his eyebrows at the sight of them - they looked familiar, but Eddie couldn’t quite place why they looked familiar or how. Not until Chimney walked up to him and that started sputtering, fidgeting in ways that had Eddie looking over to him in confusion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s going on with you?” Eddie finds himself asking before looking over to the two adults, watching as they look around warily. “And why do they look so damn familiar?” He adds, mostly to himself as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, trying to place where he knows the two other people from..</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe because those are Buck’s parents,” Chimney says, his voice clearly betraying his panic and Eddie finds himself turning towards his friend with widened eyes before he turns back towards the older couple, his eyes narrowing. He stands up without thought, finds himself shaking his limbs and cracking his neck before turning towards Chimney with an arched eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re going to go down there with me, introduce me, and then help me bring them upstairs,” Eddie says, a determined nod happening when Chimney’s eyes continue to widen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Eddie, why? It was awkward enough </span>
  <em>
    <span>with</span>
  </em>
  <span> Maddie and Buck with me - now neither of them are here and --” Chimney whispers, furious and panicked and Eddie can’t help but roll his eyes, folding his arms in front of his chest before looking at Chimney with what Buck calls his patented </span>
  <em>
    <span>Dad</span>
  </em>
  <span> look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because you’re going to be their son-in-law eventually, Chim, so you might as well start getting used to doing this sort of stuff now,” Eddie says after a moment with a shake of his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And why are you doing this, then? Whatever </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> is?” Chimney asks, and Eddie can feel the flush creeping up his neck and to his cheeks, though he hopes it’s not as obvious as it would be for someone like Buck, who knows him much better than Chimney does.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because,” Eddie says with a soft sigh, “Buck deserves to have someone stand up for him with his parents when he can’t do it himself,” he finishes, throwing Chimney a pointed look that has Chim grimacing before nodding. He slowly leads Eddie down the stairs to where the Buckley parents are and Eddie -- Eddie has thoughts coursing through his mind as he’s introduced.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Both of the Buckley parents look at him appraisingly when Chimney introduces them - and Eddie does his best not to chuckle when they call Chim </span>
  <em>
    <span>Howard</span>
  </em>
  <span>, flashing them a grin instead that he knows helps score points with other people.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please, call me Eddie,” he says softly as he holds out his hand for the Buckley’s to take, grinning when they do so and Chimney leads the three of them up the stairs, Eddie taking the rear. As they all sit down at the table the team usually eats at, Eddie doesn’t quite know what he wants to say to Buck’s parents, so he watches them awkwardly interact with Chimney, tries his hardest not to let out a small chuckle when he sees Chim awkwardly interact back with them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Chimney has to leave, the awkwardness too much for him so Eddie says goodbye and turns towards Buck’s parents with a small sigh, looking at them carefully. They’re eyeing him - sizing him up, and normally it would bother him but right now, he really needs to tell them just what they’re missing when it comes to their son, even if they don’t quite understand what it means, coming from Eddie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So --” Buck’s mom begins and Eddie knows if his own mother was around, she would scold him for interrupting, but ---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know how many times Buck has saved my life?” Eddie asks, interrupting with a tilt of his head before biting the inside of his cheek and looking away briefly before he turns towards the Buckley's and huffs slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know how many times Buck has saved someone when he hasn’t needed to?” He asks, a small frown on his face as he shifts in the chair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your son is --- brilliant. Despite the fact that you raised him in such a way that he doesn’t believe it when people tell him they love him, or how </span>
  <em>
    <span>good</span>
  </em>
  <span> he is, he does everything he possibly can to make people happy. And that’s because you didn’t give him that kind of love growing up,” Eddie says with a frown, wiping at his eyes because he’s not the kind of guy to talk about his emotions in general, but with people he barely knows?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yeah, this wasn’t easy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t know this but he’s practically my son’s second dad. Has been since the moment he met my kid. Gives him all of the love he has, even on days when he really doesn’t want to be around people. My son adores and loves him,” Eddie says, a small smile on his face. He can see Chimney watching him with narrowed eyes in the corner of the room, but he ignores the look on his friend’s face before he continues.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He and Chris  were on the pier when the tsunami happened. And Buck did everything he possibly could to take care of Chris, even when he was saving other people he didn’t need to save.” Eddie says, looking towards Buck’s parents with -- he doesn’t know what kind of look he gives them but he can see them hesitating in their movements, and he hopes that something he has said has stuck with them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And at one point, he got separated from our kid. To this day, he still blames himself. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him that he found Chris, that Chris was fine - doesn’t matter how many times </span>
  <em>
    <span>Chris</span>
  </em>
  <span> tells him that, either. He still blames himself, says he shouldn’t have lost Chris in the first place and --” Eddie breaks off here, looking away completely before taking a deep breath and then looking at Buck’s parents with narrowed eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He grew up believing you hated him, you know. That he was a disappointment to you guys. And finding out about how you only had him to make Daniel better, and how you didn’t --” Eddie breaks away here once more, taking another deep breath before looking over at the Buckley’s with a frown.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Buck has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met,” Eddie says, huffing softly as he shifts in the chair. “Despite how you didn’t raise him, because that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> Maddie, Buck has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, and if you apologize, he’ll forgive you, because that’s who he is,” Eddie adds, fingers tapping out a beat on the table as he continues to frown.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But just know, that the man you see in front of you? That is the man who helped make our son a skateboard so he could skate despite having CP, the man who didn’t go to an award ceremony for his work saving people from the tsunami, the man who wears his heart on his sleeve for anyone to see - that man’s growth is not on you. That’s on Maddie, and everyone else in Buck’s life. So when you take a look at your son, and you see all of the good he’s done, and how much love he has from people who aren’t his biological family but are his found family….</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just remember that you had nothing to do with that, and that was your own choosing.” Eddie finishes, standing up and walking down the stairs on the off chance he says anything else he doesn’t quite mean to say. He doesn’t notice Chimney looking at him from the corner, a confused look on his face as he heads down the stairs to wait for Buck - doesn’t notice the way Buck’s parents look at him with their own look of confusion - just focuses on the fact that Buck should be arriving soon, and when he does, he’ll be there for the other man.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Buck’s parents have come and gone, saying goodbye to Eddie as they leave, leaving Buck a little confused in their wake as Buck walks up to Eddie and stands next to him. Eddie is leaning against one of the support beams, watching the sun set in the horizon as this happens, and Eddie can’t help but look towards Buck with a small smile, arching one of his eyebrows at his best friend, wondering what’s going through his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything alright?” Eddie asks after a few minutes of silence, watching as Buck takes a deep breath and then exhales it, looking towards him with his own soft smile. It’s something that’s been happening more and more often between them - soft smiles, soft nudges and lingering touches and gazes. Eddie never says anything about it because even though he knows his feelings, he doesn’t know Buck’s, doesn’t know what’s going through his mind, so he stays quiet instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My parents and I talked. I don’t --” Buck begins, biting his lower lip before chewing on the inside of his cheek before letting out a soft sigh. “I forgave them, but I also know it’s not going to be an immediate change. There’s almost 30 years of resentment built up, you know?” Buck says and Eddie -- nods his head, because he can understand where Buck is coming from.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And they said they were proud of me - that saving people is what I was born to do,” Buck scoffs and Eddie tilts his head in acknowledgement because the wording of that is definitely not something Buck would appreciate, though they’re clearly trying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But, surprisingly enough, they mentioned being told stories from some of my coworkers and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> Chimney is too awkward to have told them anything,” Buck says, turning to face Eddie completely. Eddie looks back at Buck with an arch of his eyebrow, waiting for his best friend to get out what he needs to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t ask them what kind of stories, because I really just wanted them out of my comfort zone, you know? But Chimney -- Chim had a few interesting questions for me that I didn’t really know how to answer,” Buck says and Eddie finds himself shifting once more, standing up straight and stretching his spine before folding his arms in front of him and leaning against the beam once more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What kind of questions?” Eddie asks, and he ignores the way Buck steps closer to him, ignores how Buck bites his bottom lip before he’s leaning forward, kissing him. Eddie freezes for one moment before he returns Buck’s kiss, but before he can get completely lost in the feeling, he pulls away from Buck with a soft smile on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that for?” Eddie asks, and he can’t help but chuckle when Buck smiles at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just answering some of Chim’s questions for myself,” Buck says and Eddie tilts his head before biting his own lip and nodding, not quite sure he knows what’s going on but trusting Buck completely. Things remain quiet between them for a few minutes before Buck lets out a small chuckle and Eddie - Eddie can’t stop himself from moving forward and wrapping his arms around Buck, pushing his fingers through Buck’s hair and just breathing him in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can feel it, the moment Buck relaxes in his hold and allows him to be hugged, and a small smile forms on Eddie’s face as he scratches at Buck’s scalp, humming softly before eventually, he breaks away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Eddie chuckles, shrugging when Buck looks at him with his own arched eyebrow. “I just really needed to hug you and make sure you were okay.” Eddie admits, ignoring the way Buck moves in once more and continues to hug him, both men just breathing one another in until they break away again a few minutes later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wanted to thank you,” Buck whispers after a few minutes and Eddie looks at him in confusion, not quite sure what Buck was talking about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What for?” Eddie asks after a few minutes, biting the inside of his cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For standing up to my parents for me. For loving me,” Buck says and Eddie blinks, nearly freezing at Buck’s words before he smiles softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Always, Buck. And loving you? Super easy,” Eddie admits, nudging the other man as Buck chuckles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I still need time, though,” Buck says, voice soft and Eddie smiles at Buck, lacing their fingers together before bringing their hands up and kissing Buck’s knuckles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I’m perfectly alright with waiting, Buck.” Eddie responds after a few minutes, chuckling when Buck flushes but nods nonetheless.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then. Our shift is over. How about we go home and watch a few movies with Chris?” Buck suggests and Eddie - Eddie can’t think of anything more perfect than doing just that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That sounds absolutely perfect,” Eddie chuckles, squeezing Buck’s hand before they break apart to gather their stuff, saying goodbye to the rest of the team, the rest of their day going exactly as planned, ending with Buck, Eddie and Chris falling asleep together on Eddie’s couch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story. Please, please, think about leaving me a comment, even if it's just a heart. Receiving comments make my day and motivate me to write more. ♥ You can come yell at me on my <a href="https://siriuslyjamie.tumblr.com">tumblr</a>, if you also want to.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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